TBC: Home And Away

If there's one thing that will always remain as a constant in my life, it's my undying, unwavering support for anything that goes against the Toronto Maple Leafs. As long as the Leafs continue their streak of not capturing the Stanley Cup nor appearing in a Stanley Cup Final, I will remain fairly content in my pursuits of hockey stories. To this degree, it would should be weird to some that I would voluntarily pick up a book that's primarily about one player's career wearing the Maple Leafs logo, but I had a specific reason for doing so. Because of this, Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Home and Away, written by Mats Sundin and Amy Stuart and published by Simon & Schuster Canada. There's no doubt in my mind that Mats Sundin is one of the greatest players that Sweden has ever produced and his accolades from his storied career are many, but I had another reason to read this book.

From his Simon & Schuster biography, "Mats Sundin is the longest-serving captain not born in North America in NHL history. He enjoyed a prolific eighteen-season NHL career as well as a superb international career playing for Sweden, his homeland. When he was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, he became the first European-born player ever drafted first overall. The Nordiques traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the rest is hockey history. At the time of his retirement, Sundin stood as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ all-time franchise leader in goals and points. A quiet leader, the durable Sundin is regarded as one of the finest Swedes to have played in the National Hockey League, and one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time." Mats, his wife Josephine, and his three children live in Sweden and visit Toronto often.

From her biography on the Simon & Schuster website, "Amy Stuart's fourth novel, A Death at the Party, emerged as a longstanding #1 bestseller. She is the author of three other bestselling novels — Still Mine, Still Water, and Still Here — which have been optioned for television by Lark/NBC Universal. Amy's other love is hockey. She is one of only four women head coaches in the GTHL, the world's largest youth competitive hockey league. She was born in Toronto, where she still lives with her husband and their three sons. They also spend much of their time on Prince Edward Island, where Amy's family is originally from." In 2019, Amy founded Writerscape, an online community for hopeful and emerging writers if you're looking for a place to hone your writing skills, and you can follow Amy on Twitter and on Goodreads to stay up-to-date on everything!

As stated above, I fully admit that I had very little interest in reading about Sundin's time with the Maple Leafs. I was interested in learning about his life, but that 13-year section of his career mattered little to me when I started reading. I actually was looking to see on how he and Swedish teammates reacted after losing to Belarus at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, but what I found in reading Home and Away is that Mats Sundin, despite his Maple Leafs career, is a man who never forgot his roots, loved his family, and loved playing hockey.

Home and Away is a memoir of Mats' life, from his time growing up as the middle child in the Sundin family to closing out his career with the Vancouver Canucks. I'm not sure if it's Sundin's disposition or Stuart's writing style, but the entire book is very positive which seems odd considering that hockey is about players and teams clashing. Add in agents and general managers who clash during contract negotiations and personal relationships, and I expected a few stories where Sundin didn't have a good interaction with someone. That reality, though, is a very positive memoir contained in Home and Away which may speak further to Sundin's character.

What is clear throughout Home and Away is Mats' sense of loyalty and devotion. He was extremely devoted in his career to his teams and teammates including turning down offers to leave Toronto via trades in pursuit of a Stanley Cup, and he was always in contact with his family and quick to have them at his side. For a man who grew up in the small Swedish town of Sollentuna, the sense of home and family was something that Sundin carried throughout his career that I never knew he carried. It was refreshing to read just how close he is with his family no matter how far away he was chasing his dreams.

One thing I wasn't aware of as I read Home and Away was Mats Sundin playing in a youth tournament in Winnipeg! Sundin played in the Manitoba capital in 1986 as his team from Sweden attended a tournament here. He was billeted with a family, and it sounds as though Mats enjoyed Winnipeg during this experience. He writes,

"Winnipeg, and Canada, felt both different and the same as home. The weather was warm and the days were long. People were friendly, but far more outgoing. In Sweden, we couldn't drive until we turned eighteen, so it was a shock to see out fellow sixteen-year-olds behind the wheel. My host player drove me to a local mall, where we met up with groups of kids eating at the food court and shopping for clothes. I couldn't believe how sophisticated they seemed in comparison to us. My host family took good care of me."

I went looking for newspaper articles of this tournament where Sweden "ended up winning every game by a large margin," but I found nothing. Nevertheless, it's pretty cool to think that Winnipeg was Sundin's first North American experience for culture, and he seemed to enjoy his short stay based on his story in Home and Away.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Home and Away as I really knew little about Mats Sundin. From growing up in Sollentuna to playing with Nacka HK and Djurgården IF in Sweden to landing in Quebec, Toronto, and Vancouver as an NHL player, there are all sorts of interesting stories in Home and Away. He does address each of the three Olympiads he took part in so 2002 gets discussed, but I really wanted more details. My unreasonable expectations aside, the book is an excellent look at Mats Sundin's life and career, and Home and Away absolutely deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Home and Away was released on October 22, 2024, so copies of the book should be available at libraries and local bookstores. The book is easy to read with very minimal crass language and no outrageous stories for parents of younger hockey fans to consider, and the chapters are short and concise, making the book easy to put down if one needs a break. In saying that, I read Home and Away very quickly because of its easy-to-read nature, and it is absolutely recommended for all hockey fans, especially Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Biggest Storm Surge

While I legitimately had no team in the Stenley Cup Final I wanted to see win, there was a team that I definintely didn't want to see win. That made me a Carolina Hurricanes fan by proxy, and the Hurricanes showed everyone that they were for real this year with a convincing 3-0 win tonight to capture the Stanley Cup in six games over the Vegas Golden Knights. After running into and being bullied by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final the last few years, the Hurricanes showed that they learned from those series by bringing their version of grit and sandpaper into Vegas tonight where they grinded out a solid 3-0 shutout of the Western Conference champions to earn the right to be called "2026 NHL Stanley Cup Champions"!

Whether it was Jordan Staal's record-tying effort of scoring five goals in five consecutive games in the final, Brandon Bussi jumping right in where he left off with outstanding goaltending after relieving Freddie Andersen, the Hall-Blake-Stankoven line bring all sorts of chaos, the likes of Jarvis, Ehlers, Aho, and Svechnikov flying up and down the ice, the defensive prowess of Jacob Slavin, Sean Walker, and K'Andre Miller, or the coaching of Rod Brind'Amour and his staff, everyone on this 2026 version of the Carolina Hurricanes seemed to contribute.

I'm not making light of the fact that Vegas pushed Carolina in this series. Vegas took Game One by a goal, and Carolina responded with an overtime win in Game Two. Vegas won Game Three in double-overtime, and Carolina responded with a two-goal victory in Game Four. Vegas flipped the script in the best-of-three series that was remaining by winning Game Five, and they had their best showing in the final in Game Six with the three goals and the shutout tonight.

Much chatter was given to the "dark days" of the Hurricanes' rebuild when they missed the playoffs for nine-straight years and what it took to get back to winning their second Stanley Cup. They went through Kirk Muller and Bill Peters as head coaches before giving Rod Brind'Amour his shot behind the bench, elevating him from assistant coach to head coach in 2018. Staal, Slavin, Aho, Svechnikov, and Jordan Martinook are the players who have been in Raleigh the longest, so getting to this point as champions by adding and retaining the necessary players and staff to win has been a long process.

Every player tonight said that the long process was entirely worth it.

For me, it was awesome to see Nikolaj Ehlers win the Stanley Cup tonight after all he's been through. Like Paul Maurice did after his time in Winnipeg, "Fly" had fond memories of his time in Winnipeg that led him to the promised land elsewhere. Sportsnet's David Amber and Elliotte Friedman spoke to Ehlers after winning the Stanley Cup.
How is it that we've seen two recent Stanley Cup champions speak fondly about Winnipeg yet neither champion is a member of the Winnipeg Jets? I'm not going to turn this article into dissection of the Jets, but it seems clear that Nikolaj Ehlers wanted to hoist the Stanley Cup in the Manitoba capital. Good on him for finding a place where he could! He'll always be one of my favorite 2.0 Jets!

They swept Ottawa. They swept Philadelphia. They lost Game One of the Eastern Conference Final to Montreal after an eleven-day layoff before roaring back to life and winning four-straight games. They lost Games One and Three in trying to figure out the Vegas Golden Knights before winning three-straight games to eliminate the Western Conference champion. They went 16-3 in the playoffs, outscored their opponents 66-39 in those 19 games, and were 5-1 in overtime games. Tonight, they are the NHL's best team with the honour of raising the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history.

The spoils always go to the victors, so a deserving congratulations go to Carolina Hurricanes, the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup champions!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Mixing All The Eras

When the franchise was founded in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2001, the Manchester Monarchs had their own distinct look and colours. The franchise was actually awarded to Howard Baldwin in 1999, but the Los Angeles Kings bought the franchise from Baldwin's ownership group on June 14, 2000 to operate as their AHL club. When the AHL pushed for western expansion in order to bring the teams closer to their NHL west coast affiliates, the Manchester Monarchs and Ontario Reign swapped leagues as they traded places in the AHL and ECHL. That's when the Kings rebranded the Reign in their own look, introducing a variation of the logo above. Today, they unveiled their new look.

As we know, the Kings have worn purple, gold, black, and silver throughout their history, and the Reign have strictly been a black and silver team. I am thoroughly against the idea of an AHL team adopting an NHL team's identity simply due to the fact that the AHL team should have its own culture within its community. Earning the NHL colours should be something that a player aspires to get, so having an NHL team and AHL team look nearly identical has never made sense.

Today, the Ontario Reign unveiled its rebranding, and it's something!

From a historical standpoint, the Ontario Reign are now officially adopting the Los Angeles Kings' colour scheme and original logo as their own. I am fully aware that the Reign are owned by the Kings, but this is royal narcissism that very few teams have ever attempted to pull off in a rebrand. Honestly, I'm almost impressed if I wasn't so confused as to why the Reign are weaing Kings alternate jerseys.

According to the team's website, there's an explanation.

"The primary logo pays homage to the Inland Empire and Ontario, while tying the Reign to the LA Kings’ legacy through the crown and royal-inspired elements, including a nod to the Kings original color scheme. At the peak of the crest stands the 'O', a reminder that this identity belongs to the people who call it home. At its core, there are five pistons that represent the spirit of Ontario: power, precision, pressure, unity, and relentless forward movement. Beneath it lies the ground it was built on, a mark inspired by the Ontario Motor Speedway, where speed defined the past and motion built a legacy of this land."

Ok, I have many questions like "how does the 'O' remind anyone of anything other than 'Ontario'?" or "why are there pistons on a crown?" or "where do you see ground?" because this crown, while slightly modified, looks a lot like the Los Angeles Kings' alternate crown logo they wore. In looking at the new Reign logo, I wouldn't have guessed that any of those things written above were true or even relevant.

I actually like the white jersey with the black shoulder yoke and significantly-noticeable yellow-and-purple stripes, but the black base for the dark jersey still bothers me in that it has no shoulder yoke when it's begging for more colour. Kudos for the triple-colour numbers as the "inland blue"-on-yellow-on-black looks good on the white jersey while the "inland blue"-on-silver-on-yellow pops off the dark jersey. Silver block lettering works nicely for the player name.

Shockingly, the overall aesthetic isn't terrible, and I suspect the Reign will move some merchandise with this rebranding as the pop of colour will appeal to fans. The Reign still should go back to their ECHL look as it was entirely superior, but these new uniforms are an improvement over the entirely-boring, Kings-lookalike Reign jerseys.

I'm not convinced that the Kings and Reign should be mixing their colour schemes and logos, but it seems they'll do whatever they want. The Reign can use all the marketing garbage they want to justify wearing the crown logo, but I need less "Kings" in the Reign logo. I like the use of colour, but the logo is still a royal failure.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Start Calling It "Evertime"

Overtime in hockey is the one place where it doesn't matter how the previous sixty minutes were played. Sure, they have "sudden death" in the NFL, but hockey has the drama of being one shot away from victory. Playoff hockey bakes the drama in even more with wins and losses in overtime often affecting the outcomes of series. Ask the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 when they won ten-straight overtime games en route to winning the Stanley Cup. But there's another team that has an outstanding overtime record in the playoffs as well.

If you haven't been following the ECHL's Kelly Cup Final, the Kansas City Mavericks ran roughshod over the Florida Everbaldes in Games One and Two by scores of 6-0 and 5-2. It looked like the magic that the Everblades had in the playoffs leading up to this series had disappeared, but the ECHL's unique 2-3-2 set of games meant there was still a chance that Florida could get back into the series with at least two home wins in three games. Would that happen?

Including tonight's final, the Everblades are right back in the thick of things as they made it a best-of-three series by winning Games Three and Four on home ice! The Everblades won Game Three by a 2-1 overtime final, and they scored a 3-2 overtime win tonight thanks to Hudson Elynuik scoring at the 10:36 mark, tying the series at 2-2. Game Five goes tonight in Estero, Florida, and Kansas City may want to avoid going to overtime because the Everblades have made it clear that any period played after the third period ends is "Evertime".

People will look at the statistics and say, "Teebz, Florida is 2-1 in overtime in these playoffs" which is entirely correct. However, since 2022 when the Everblades began their championship dynasty, they have dominated overtimes to the tune of a 20-5 record in extra time! That's an incredible run of winning in sudden death, and it seems they're finding ways to keep that incredible record going this season!

In 2022, the Everblades were 6-1 in overtime as they won every game that ended in the fourth period, but lost the only game that went to a fifth period. For those wondering, that loss came to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits when Nikita Pavlychev scored at 8:51 of double-overtime in the first round to make it a 3-2 series, but Florida would finish off Greenville in Game Six en route winning the Kelly Cup.

2023 would see Florida win their second consecutive Kelly Cup, and they went 5-2 in overtime in that season. The key here is that they were 2-0 on double-overtime games in 2023, improving their record to 2-1 in five-period contests. The Jacksonville Icemen beat Florida in Game Four of their second-round series while the Newfoundland Growlers beat them in overtime in the conference final. It should be noted that both double-overtime wins came against Newfoundland as well as the Everblades won that series in six games and 23 periods.

2024 saw the Florida Everblades become the first ECHL team to three-peat as they captured the Kelly Cup again. They only played four overtime games in those playoffs, going 3-1 in those games. Two of those games came against the Jacksonville Icemen who lost Game Two by a 2-1 overtime score before hanging a loss around Florida's neck in Game Three with a 4-3 overtime win. Florida would eliminate the Orlando Solar Bears in Round Two with a Game Five 2-1 overtime win, and they'd win the Kelly Cup with a Game Five 4-3 overtime win over Kansas City! Matt Wedman was the hero in that game!

2025 saw the Trois-Rivières Lions end the dream of a fourth-straight Kelly Cup for the Everblades, but they still did something incredible when it came to overtime. The Everblades met the Jacksonville Icemen for a fourth-straight year and second-straight first-round series, and the Everblades swept the Icemen out of the playoffs by winning four-straight overtime games! This marked the fourth-straight year that Florida also eliminated the Icemen, moving them to 5-0 in playoff series versus Jacksonville with a 27-7 record versus the Icemen all-time! Before falling to Trois-Rivières in the conference final, Florida had won 14 consecutive Kelly Cup playoff series!

The setback of losing that series last season seems to have pushed Florida to new heights this season as they're back in the Kelly Cup Final and are tied with the ECHL's top regular-season team. Their overtime record took a hit in the Eastern Conference Final this season as Wheeling beat them 3-2 in overtime in Game Four, but that was the only setback Florida suffered in that series and in overtime so far in these playoffs. Combined with the two wins on Wednesday and tonight in overtime, they're 2-1 this season in the extra frame!

Since 2022, Florida is now 62-26 in playoff games including being 20-5 in overtime games and 2-1 in double-overtime games. They have won 32.3% of their playoff games beyond sixty minutes en route to three-straight Kelly Cups and four Final appearances in the last five seasons. What might be even scarier is that of those 25 overtime games played, the Everbaldes are 10-2 at home and 10-3 on the road. It doesn't matter where they play overtime - they simply just win!

Game Five goes tonight at 7pm ET, and it would be in Kansas City's best interest to find and hold a lead. If Game Five goes to overtime, there's a better-than-good chance the Florida Everblades will win, and they'd have two shots to capture their fourth Kelly Cup in five years heading back to Independence, Missouri on Monday.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 716

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is operating a little shorthanded today as Jason will join us from Montreal after flying out for the Scintillation conference! He'll be a busy man on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so we'll get him ready to chat by having him join by phone once he's settled in the "Paris of North America". We have some interesting stories to go over tonight, and we may even squeeze in an exit interview if everything works out in our favour! Will that happen? You'll have to find out tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the program, Teebz and Jason will look to have Travis (Montreal) on for his exit interview as we get closer to the NHL season ending. Once we get through that fun, our hosts will take a look at the Dallas Stars' arena situation and how they're doing things down in Texas, they'll discuss the USHL expansion a little more, look into the Baton Rouge Zydeco who have all sorts of problems, and we'll address the elephant in the room when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers. It should be a solid show with some strong opinions and thoughts on these topics, so clear your evening schedule for hockey talk tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will look to send Travis home off Survivor: NHL Playoffs island before talking bad arena deals, mob-style tactics, potential expansion locations, crazy hockey turmoil, ridiculous coaching hires, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

All-Powerful Mother Nature

The image to the left isn't from some new movie or television show. That was one instance of the sky over Manitoba last night, and the storm that hit the southern portion of the province left behind a pile of problems including flooding and power outages for many people. I am happy to report that HBIC Headquarters suffered no major damage, but I am very limited in my efforts to do anything surrounding this blog thanks to having no internet for a second day. I do realize that this is a first-world problem and my complaining about it matters zero in the grand scheme of things when farmers are trying to put their lives back together and people try to clean up following the localized monsoon that hit. I'm hopeful that everyone was able to remain safe.

It became apparent to me after getting home from the ballpark last night during the initial rainstorm just how fragile some of our infrastructure is and how much we rely upon it to ensure we're well-informed. My cell phone was working fine, but a power outage in the north portion of the city killed power to a cell tower that is near my workplace, causing people all sorts of difficulties. Stuff like that shouldn't happen, but it does. Will anyone address it? Hard to say.

What I can say is that I am writing this article while using my phone's hotspot because internet at HBIC HQ has not be restored since it went out on Tuesday night. As per my internet service provider, the outage is apparently known, but there is no ETA on service being restored. I get the crews and technicians are busy, but inclement weather doesn't care about whether I have a wifi signal or not. I'd like to know if we're aiming for more storms tonight so I can be ready.

I'm off to the ballpark again tonight, so internet won't be a huge issue for me. The double-header scheduled for this evening will likely keep me at the ballpark until close to midnight, so I doubt I'll be worrying about internet when I get home. It just makes me think how, for all the technological and engineering advancements we've made, we still haven't solved a simple matter like power and internet outages.

Hopefully, there won't be a torrential downpour tonight like there was last night. A quick sprint across the parking lot to get to my car saw me drenched by the time I got in my vehicle, and the flooding on streets seemed to happen quickly. Knowing how fast that flooding happened is pretty scary knowing that some communities had very little time to prepare for the rising waters. Living in the "information age" is worthless if the medium for that information isn't available.

Stay safe and dry out there, folks. Mother Nature remains undefeated when she wants to unleash her fury, and not being able to access the information as to what might be coming can be devastating.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Priority Selection

At no point does anyone ever think they'll be the first to do something or to accomplish something, and today saw the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs do something that they had never done before, but it did happen once before. The player pictured to the left is 17 year-old netminder Sophie Jovanovic who played with the Toronto Nationals U18 AAA program in the GTHL this season, and, yes, she is a girl. She's not the first woman to be drafted by an OHL team - Sarnia did that with current MacEwan Griffins netminder Taya Currie - but she did become the first and highest-selected woman in the OHL U18 Priority Draft when Brantford selected her with their 40th-overall pick! Clearly, the Bulldogs see talent in Jovanovic with this pick, and, based on her play in the GTHL, I think she has a better-than-good shot at being the first woman to suit up and start a regular season game in the OHL!

If you go looking for Jovanovic's numbers from this season, you likely won't find them anywhere unless you're a scout for a major junior team. The GTHL made the shrewd decision to stop posting statistics from all age groups on their website so that players, parents, and team staff wouldn't have access to every player's numbers. Frankly, I'm all for this decision because, as some may know, hockey parents can be overwhelming regarding their child's statistics, so kudos for the GTHL for drawing a line in the sand for the good of everyone.

What you should know is that Jovanovic has already committed to playing between the pipes for the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA, and we know what kind of players they recruit and produce. If they were asking Sophie to commit to them, she's likely better than a number of male goalies already because the Badgers simply win.

When she was playing with the Marlboros U16 team, Sophie was featured on Sportsnet during Hockey Day in Canada. I posted the video on the January 19, 2025 edition of The Rundown as Sophie's story seemed like the introduction to a woman who is going to have a long and storied hockey career. Her brother, Matthew, was drafted by the Saginaw Spirit in 2020, so seeing her go to the Bulldogs in 2026 is pretty cool! Of course, this is just another chapter in her story!

While she will graduate from high school in 2027 and likely look to join Wisconsin at that time, the option of having the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs should allow Sophie an opportunity to, at the very least, practice with the team. Perhaps she can get into a preseason OHL game just like Ève Gascon did with the QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques in 2021 before heading off to the University of Minnesota-Duluth where she continues to impress with her goaltending talents. Either way, having options is always good for a young goalie like Jovanovic so she can test herself against players at various levels of hockey!

I'll bang this drum again, but Sophie Jovanovic is a goaltender that Hockey Canada should have an eye on as she continues along her path. She's a competitor, she loves playing and competing, and she has a bright future. I'm not saying she'll be an Olympic lock or anything, but her trajectory is certainly on the right path if she wants to reach those heights. She'll be noticed playing with Wisconsin, her education will certainly pay dividends down the road, and there likely will be PWHL offers once she finishes adding to her education.

Sophie Jovanovic looks like she's going to be a game-changer for the Wisconsin Badgers, she could be a future Team Canada stopper, and she may see time with the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs. What can't be argued is that she was good enough to be noticed by the Bulldogs and by the Badgers, and she'll have a chance to skate with one, if not two, incredible programs if and when she chooses. Sophie Jovanovic is a player who you'll likely want to keep an eye on in the future!

Congratulations go out to Sophie Jovanovic on being drafted by the Brantford Bulldogs - another significant step in her career!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Waiving The Clause

I had a good discussion tonight with a teammate in the adult beverage garden following our slo-pitch win. Normally, there are discussions about everything from trashy TV shows to funny family and work moments, but one topic that always seems to come up is hockey. Dylan Larkin's trade demand out of Detroit was the heated topic on this warm evening, and some were concerned that it may lead to similar outcomes for a handful of Jets. What caught my attenton in this was a quick conversation about how Larkin should be forced to forfeit his no-trade protection because it was him, and not the Red Wings, who asked for a trade. This got me thinking.

As we saw with the St. Louis Blues this season, Colton Parayko denied a trade to Buffalo because he had a no-trade clause in his contract. St. Louis had arranged a deal with the Buffalo Sabres, and they were forced to approach Parayko to see if he would be willing to waive his no-trade status that they had provided him. Of course, he did not, Parayko remained a Blues defender, and the Sabres moved on.

But what if it had been Parayko asking to leave St. Louis?

A no-trade clause protects a player from being moved by a team because the team clearly valued the contributions that a player was making. It is the team awarding this protection to a player, and the player has the right to deny a move through this clause if the team decides that it wants to move that player. In short, the team guaranteed that it wouldn't trade the player, so the player has every right to deny any trade involving him through that awarded clause.

What a no-trade clause doesn't do is allow a player to pick and choose where he can be dealt if the player decides he no longer wants to play for the team that awarded the no-trade protection. If a player demands to be traded, he essentially is waiving the no-trade protection that was provided for him. As such, the team should be able to make a deal with any team in the league at that point because the player has made it clear that he no longer wants to honour the terms of the contract and protection given to him.

I want to be clear that I have no legal basis for the above paragraph nor would it even pass the sniff test by a lawyer. All I'm suggesting is that any player who demands a trade while holding no-trade protection officially is waiving that protection. 31 other teams can and should be able to acquire his services if a deal can be reached.

I'm sure player agents and the NHLPA would go bananas over this change to no-trade protection if it were implemented, but the protection remains in place as long as the player isn't the one asking for a trade. If a team approaches a player with that protection, he is fully and legally allowed to reject any and all trades as long as his contract is valid. No one can take that protection from the player if he doesn't want to be moved to another team. It is binding.

However, a player should not be able to hold teams hostage and demand where he can be traded if a player decides he wants to leave. A modified no-trade clause can be negotiated if a team and player agree to it, but full no-trade protection given to a player doesn't give the player the power to pick and choose where he can be traded. The clause prevents that from happening unless the player waives the entire clause, not just part of it to go to specific teams.

By making this change to the no-trade clause, this would restore the balance of power between teams and players when these clauses are included in a contract. It's a commitment from both sides that they will honour the contract for its entire length of the term, and it prevents a team from simply blindsiding a player it once valued for his contributions by trading him away without notice. If the player has a change of heart, he forfeits all trade protection when it comes to leaving town. No exceptions except for modified no-trade clauses.

Rarely do I side with management in any cause, but seeing a player limiting a team's ability to get the best deal it can by submitting a list of teams for whom he'd rather play is not part of the no-trade clause. If a player decides he doesn't want to play for a team, he waives all protection he once held under the no-trade clause. That risk could make accepting no-trade clauses in the future a little harder to accept since players would be afforded no-trade protection as long as they were committed to that team for the length of the deal.

Would this be a change you'd like to see in a future CBA negotation? I know not everyone will approve of this change, and some will say it doesn't go far enough. It's a starting point, though, and that's where all negotiations begin. In knowing that, I'll ask the question: if a player with full no-trade protection demands a trade, should he be forced to waive that full no-trade protection? Leave your answer in the comments so there can be a discussion about this change!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Expansion Into Anytown, USA

It came as a bit of a surprise on Thursday that the USHL will be making an announcement on June 24 about expansion into California, Nevada, and Arizona. We know that all the junior hockey leagues are looking to expand their footprints on the North Ameican map - sometimes with teams switching leagues to do so - but expansion by the USHL into these three states is a big move for a league that's generally only had games played in the US midwest. For a league whose furthest southwest team was in Kearney, Nebraska, this represents a massive shift in the USHL's thinking with the potential to have two isolated, independent divisions playing hockey before meeting in the Clark Cup Final. The only question that needs to be asked is into which cities the USHL will expand in these states.

According to the release on Thursday, the USHL "and a group of stakeholders have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish member clubs in Arizona, California, and Nevada" with no cities named nor a definite number of teams being added in those states. This could be a two-team expansion or we could see massive expansion depending on that group of stakeholders, but it should be noted that Los Angeles Kings President Luc Robitaille was named in the release along with former USHL Commissioner Tom Garrity and West Coast Hockey Sports and Entertainment executive Ben Robert.

If those three men are involved, this looks like a very real development as all three have multiple contacts that may want to own teams. I'm not going to speculate on who should own teams because ownership could come in many forms, but I will speculate on the cities who could host a team based on venue availability and market size. Will these sites work? I can't say for certain, but they do have venues that could make hockey profitable for these owners.

The Obvious Cities

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA: THE ECHL once called Fresno home, and the Falcons used to play in Selland Arena which can hold up to 7600 fans for hockey after the 2006 renovation that installed more comfortable seating, a new video replay scoreboard, message boards, and a new ice-cooling system for hockey games. With 542,107 citizens as per the 2020 census, Fresno ranks as the fifth-largest city in California and the city boasts a diverse economical sector for corporate sponsorship.

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA: Once home to both the AHL and ECHL, Stockton is the the 11th-most populous city in California with 320,804 residents as per the 2020 census. Adventist Health Arena only hosts NBA G-League games at the moment, has many modern amenities, and would seat 9737 fans for hockey if a team played there. The arena still has a working ice plant, so it would only need a permanent tenant to make hockey work. Stockton also has a diverse, growing economic sector that could assist with corporate sponsorship.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Hockey in Phoenix? Say it ain't so! This could work well in Phoenix if a similar arena-usage deal with made with the Arizona State Sun Devils. Mullett Arena was good enough for NHL hockey, but the Sun Devils may want to have a USHL team playing in their building when it comes to recruiting players for their team. Amenities like private suites and concessions are already in place, so it wouldn't take much to move into Arizona's largest city and get things rolling. The venue and fanbase would already be present.

RENO, NEVADA: Reno has flirted with professional hockey teams for a long time, but none have found the staying power needed. They do have a bit of a hockey history with University of Nevada-Reno Men's ACHA Division-III team, but Reno could have its first permanent team with a USHL expansion team. Grand Sierra Resort broke ground on a new, 10,000-seat arena for the University of Nevada men's basketball team in October, but there was a rendering of an ice hockey rink in their release. Reno is the third most populous city in Nevada with 264,165 residents as of 2020, and it is the most populous city in Nevada outside the Las Vegas Valley. They have a diverse economic sector buoyed by several hotels and casinos, so they likely won't have to worry about begging for any sort of corporate sponsorship.

Potential Cities

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: Sacramento has never really been a landing spot for hockey, but they do have an NBA team so there has to be a market. The city isn't far from Stockton, and the Golden 1 Center where the NBA's Kings play does have an ice plant despite never hosting a hockey game of any kind. It is the sixth-most populous city in California with a 2020 population of 524,943, but the metropolitan area contains 2.46 million residents. Sacramento's economic sector has seen major gains in healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, so corporate sponsorship is there. The only question is will the Kings want an ice-requiring second tenant in their building?

GLENDALE, ARIZONA: Do I really need to explain why? The Arizona Coyotes played at Desert Diamond Arena, so it can clearly do hockey. Would people show up to watch USHL hockey? That might be a harder sell than getting them to drive out to see the Coyotes play.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It would make sense to consider Los Angeles, but one has to wonder if a USHL team could find a market with all of the other sports and entertainment options happening in Los Angeles everyday. There are arenas one could call home, but junior hockey might be a harder sell in Los Angeles with NFL, NBA, and NHL options along with everything else happening there. It's not impossible, but Los Angeles might be saturated with sporting options.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: There's no doubt that San Diego has supported the AHL Gulls as their team. The Gulls have virtually zero competition when it comes to other entertainment options, and they have an arena that could easily handle the crowds seen by the USHL. The question would be whether or not San Diego would support two hockey teams with the same enthusiasm shown for the Gulls.

BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA: We saw the IHL call San Francisco home for a few years and the NHL tried to make this area work with the Seals, but there might be more of an appetite for USHL hockey in the bay area. The Cow Palace is old, but it does have 11,089 seats for ice hockey. Oakland Arena also has hosted hockey games, but the catch is that both venues are ancient despite recent renovations. The Bay Arena could work, but it may need some tweaks to be profitable.

Cities To Avoid

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: With the NHL's Golden Knights, the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights, the NFL's Raiders, the WNBA's Aces, the new PWHL team calling Sin City home and future NBA expansion coming to the city, putting a USHL team into the alrrady-saturated Las Vegas market would be unwise. I understand the draw to move into the Las Vegas Valley, but there simply isn't a slice of the entertainment market remaining to make a USHL team viable.

FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA: This one should be simple as Flagstaff does not have a viable arena. It's located in a great area and would likely have a market of fans that they could build, but no venue makes Flagstaff an impossible dream for immediate expansion.

ANY OTHER AHL CITY, CALIFORNIA: While I respect the success seen by teams in Bakersfield, Ontario, San Jose, and Coachella Valley, having a USHL team compete for market share against these teams would see both teams fall below their potential profitabilities. Yes, it could work in these cities, but the USHL needs to put down strong, stable roots in the southwest with this announced expansion.

TUCSON, ARIZONA: For the same reason as the other AHL cities in California, a Tucson USHL team certainly don't need to be competing with another team for market share with the AHL Roadrunners. Both teams would likely fall below their potential profitabilities by competing for the same fans, corporate support, and market appeal.

Obviously, there are some appealing markets listed above with a handful of more challenging markets, but we'll have to see what happens on June 24 when it comes to this announced expansion. The USHL is certainly taking a risk in starting up a southwest division that's hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from their current sixteen teams, but this feels like one of those "dream big" moments that could pay off in a major way for the USHL and for hockey.

With growing registrations coming from non-traditional markets like the southwest, putting major junior teams in those markets will give those kids a chance to play closer to home. It will also bolster US colleges and universities when it comes to potential recruits moving from the USHL to the NCAA, so the ripples of this expansion wave will be felt down the line for generations of hockey players to come.

Assuming that this expansion is successful, the USHL could see massive benefits. That's always the goal with a project like this, but when there's talk of northern teams potentially looking at other leagues for more structure and stability, adding a handful of teams in a place that hasn't had junior hockey might make the USHL stronger...

... as long as those expansion teams are successful and profitable. With junior hockey profit margins being razor-thin in most seasons, failure won't sell USHL hockey in any prospective hockey market.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Close-To-Dallas Stars

It's hard for me to sit here and read through the Dallas Stars' proposed plan for a new arena and not be angered by what they're doing. I will, in no way, be affected by the decisions that the Stars and the poltiicians in and around Dallas make, but it seems that their official colour of Victory Green should be renamed to Greedy Green based on their new arena idea. After all the bad press they took over Kenny Jacoby's USA Today article that exposed the Stars' efforts to create an arena monopoly around Dallas, threatening to leave Dallas while demanding another city to pay for their new arena seems to be the Dallas Stars' way of alienating fans and supporters.

In a move that defies logic at first glance, the Dallas Stars are aiming to move to Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, where a new arena will be built in a mixed-use district at a site called The Shops at Willow Bend. The Stars will leave American Airlines Center in 2031 for this new proposed arena despite American Airlines Center only being used for the last 25 years, and it seems like this move goes opposite to conventional thinking. After all, the Ottawa Senators are moving to downtown Ottawa after years of complaints about their location in Kanata, and the Arizona Coyotes struggled mightily in Glendale.

However, the move begins to make sense once you start mapping out the arenas they own and operate in Dallas, specifically in north Dallas. Sean Shapiro makes this clear in D Magazine, writing,

"The Stars own and operate eight StarCenters within North Texas; none of those rinks are in Dallas, and six of the eight are north of 635. If you draw a map connecting those northern StarCenters—Valley Ranch, Farmers Branch, Richardson, Frisco, McKinney, and Plano — the proposed arena project falls right in the middle."

The Stars are moving into the middle of their arena kingdom where, as Shapiro writes, "so much of its fanbase resided outside the city. According to multiple sources, the Stars' season-ticketholder base has already largely shifted to the northern suburbs. While there will be some churn leaving Dallas, the Stars are confident internally that they'll pick up more season-ticket holders from the move."

Business real estate thrives on the idea of "location, location, location", so the Stars' move to north Dallas would make some sense if they're moving closer to their season-ticket base. As stated in Shapiro's piece above, the Stars feel they can gain more season-ticket holders with this move even if they lose a few ticket holders from other parts of Dallas. Clearly, business has never been better, right?

On Tuesday, Stars owner Tom Gaglardi signed non-binding letter of intent for a proposed sports and entertainment district at The Shops at Willow Bend. The problem with this agreement is that it literally means nothing as it is non-binding. The Stars are obligated to do nothing to develop the area if they determine the site's location to be, in any way, unacceptable. Think "Phoenix" and "remediation".

Unlike Phoenix, however, the Dallas Stars are looking to avoid getting their hands dirty when it comes to shovels in the ground for a new arena. Field of Schemes writer Neil de Mause makes a great point about who will build this arena and who will be paying for it based on CBS News' reporting. S.E. Jenkins wrote in the linked article above,

"According to the letter of intent, the city is expected to contribute up to $700 million in funding toward the project from TIRZ revenue and other available funds. Development costs for the arena are expected to be around $1 billion."

de Mause points out that this is taxpayer money in another acronym.

"A TIRZ is Texas’ version of tax increment financing, where any rise in property taxes on a site is kicked back to pay off the bonds that built the project getting taxed, a kind of fiscal perpetual motion machine that it takes either advanced economics or the wisdom of Oscar Madison to see through as still being public money."

In short, Plano taxpayers will be forced to cover the bill for this new arena through another convoluted tax scheme proposed by politicians to pay for a billionaire's shiny, new toy. And in this agreement that the Stars are proposing, they're going to reap all of the benefits that come with owning the arena without paying a dime for the construction of this new money-making entertainment venture.

"It's going to be a business dream, honestly,” another NHL team president told Shapiro for his article in D Magazine. "You get to control the venue, you get to control the surrounding area, and you get to make money 365 days a year on that space. Between that and some of the corporate entities based in that area, the Stars could easily be a top-10 revenue team."

Yes, that's all correct. The Stars will own and operate the new arena, allowing them to sap every penny from parking, concessions, ticket sales, merchandise, private suites, and anything else in the arena for any and all events held there. The Stars will be able to develop the surrounding area with businesses - Shapiro points out that Tom Gaglardi is a hotelier by trade - which will enable them to collect fees and lease monies for any businesses that want to move into the sports and entertainment centre. And the Stars paid for none of it.

Again, I point back to Jacoby's USA Today article where the Stars have strong-armed their way into rinks across Texas where they raise ice-time costs, reduce total ice-time for teams, and hold a monopoly on ice time for "every level of amateur hockey in North Texas from preschoolers to adults". This money-printing venture is protected from all oversight thanks to the Stars stacking the regional USA Hockey governing body with their own people. They own everything.

Now you might be thinking, "The Stars had to sink some money into this idea," but this is where the problem began. Jacoby reports,

"The cities each put up around $10 million or more up front to build the rinks. Once built, they leased the rinks exclusively to the Stars, who agreed to repay the cities in rent payments over 20 to 30 years. In theory, the cities would eventually get their up-front costs back, while the Stars would keep the profits."

Strangley, this sounds almost identical to what the Stars are proposing in Plano, Texas: build us an arena and entertainment complex, we'll manage it, and we'll make sure you get your tax monies back in a couple of decades. Win-win for everyone, right?

With the city owning the arena, though, any repairs, maintenance, and upgrades will be their responsibility to fund, yet they're taking none of the revenue that comes from arena ownership - parking, concessions, and ticket sales - needed to maintain the arena. If the city can't come up with the required funds to maintain or upgrade the rink, the Stars can use the "not viable for an NHL team" excuse to move again. They'll keep the mamangement portion of their arena contract intact, but the team can now explore other arena options.

What's worse is that no one has even discussed any options for American Airlines Center which could sit vacant after both the Stars and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks have started walking the paths of each team building its own arena. Dallas could have a completely viable, 25 year-old arena sitting downtown that doesn't have a permanent tenant. In an era where more teams want to own the buildings they play in, the Stars seem to be the one team that wants to control everything in and around their arena without holding the mortgage.

The Dallas Stars might be perfecting the art of being the most transient team on the planet. They are exactly what Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving, described in The Matrix to Morpheus, played by Lawrence Fishburne, when it came to the human species.


This seems to be the Dallas Stars' business plan: move to an area, bleed as much money out of that area as possible, and then relocate. Or as one former NHL team president texted to Sean Shapiro for his article, "Do you need to be in Dallas to be the Dallas Stars?"

If the vote by Plano goes through for the Stars, we'll soon find out.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 715

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is doing a little clean-up tonight as there are a pile of stories that we said we'd tackle on previous shows and never got around to discussing. With hockey news seemingly being hot off the presses each week, things change quickly when deciding what topics to cover. Add in the fun we've had meeting and chatting with some of the great contestants on Survivor: NHL Playoffs and it makes some of the stories far less important. However, they still need to be discussed at some point, so our hosts will engage in a little housekeeping tonight and get all of these random stories off the books! We're going all over the place with stories tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason will flip a coin over who sends Buffalo home after scheduling conflicts with Fiona prevented us from chatting with her. Tyler will drop in for an exit inverview for the Colorado Avalanche. Travis is off on an adventure, so he gets to skip Montreal's exit interview tonight, but he's clearing his schedule for next week. After those get done, our hosts will begin the housekeeping with a discussion about Hockey Canada's women's program making changes, an old ECHL team is new again, a discussion on the Hamilton Hammers, the USHL expanding, the Dallas Stars trying to bully their way to a new arena, the 2026 Spengler Cup schedule, and anything else we may have missed from our notes over the past few weeks. It's another busy show with lots to discuss, so lock in tonight for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat with Tyler before looking at big changes, new identities, bad logos, bad expansion, ridiculous owners, fun schedules, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Absolutely Zero Time

If there's one thing that I realize as I get older, it's that time is a finite resource. People always tell me that I could "make time" if I really wanted to, and I'm sure that's true if I simply didn't care about obligations and responsibilities. Tonight will be the third-straight night of me working all day at my normal full-time job before heading to the ballpark for some minor-pro baseball which will see me arrive at home some 14 hours after I left this morning. This schedule will continue right through until Sunday.

This scheduling has, of course, put a damper on my hockey-watching schedule as I was gearing up for the ECHL's Kelly Cup Final while trying in vain to pretend like I care about the Stanley Cup Final. The AHL's Calder Cup Final is yet to be determined with four teams still in the semifinal series, and there's AIHL hockey to be watched later at night when possible. Clearly, baseball is cramping my hockey viewing.

It's funny how quickly two weeks go by when you're constantly working, and it made me realize that the speed of time likely moves differently for everyone. For anyone playing in a championship hockey series right now, it will feel like time passed in the blink of an eye. For those souls who are locked in a prison cell, time may crawl slower than I ever know. It's all relative based on what one is doing, yet time is a constant. It neither speeds up or slows down for anyone.

The philosphical side of me thinks about how time was figured by the Egyptians, Romans, Sumerians, and Babylonians in terms of time over days, seasons, months, and years, and part of me wonders if this time convention we've adopted would make sense to other beings.

Meg, HBIC's Cat Executive Officer, likely understands day from night, but time has minimal value to her outside of "hey, I'm hungry and you usually feed me now". I wonder what time systems aliens species may use and whether creatures living miles down in the ocean where sun never reaches understand or even need the concepts of time.

In thinking about all this, it occurs to me that me complaining about my two weeks of having no time that I chose where I can't watch hockey isn't even close to being important in the grand scheme of the world and planet. Do I want to watch hockey? Sure. Will I be able to? Yes, at some point. I can still catch the highlights and the social media posts, so it's not like I won't see the most important parts. I just likely won't see them happen as they occur in real time.

Maybe I should rely on Terrance Mann's speech about baseball and time as delivered by James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams. He said, "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time," and it's how I'm marking my days as I'll be at the ballpark tonight, Friday, and Sunday while umpiring a tournament on Satuday.

Alice Walker wrote in The Color Purple, "Time moves slowly but passes quickly." As I've gotten older, she's entirely right.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Is It 2024 Again?

Tonight saw a dramatic overtime finish in the ECHL's Western Conference Final as the Fort Wayne Komets rallied to force overtime at 3-3 in Game Six. Based on the image to the left, though, you know what happened as Jakov Novak scored 64 seconds into the fourth period, sending the Kansas City Mavericks back to the Kelly Cip Final after eliminating the Komets in six games. With the Florida Everblades already waiting to see who their opponent was going to be, we now know we'll get a sequel to the 2024 Kelly Cup Final featuring these two teams.

Back in 2024, the Everblades were seeking their third-straight Kelly Cup championship, meeting the Brabham Cup-winning Kansas City Mavericks in the final. This year, the Everblades will look to claim their fourth title in five years by meeting the Brabham Cup-winning Kansas City Mavericks in the final. The Everblades will also bump their ECHL-best seven appearances in the final to eight while looking to capture a record fifth Kelly Cup with another series win this year.

Kansas City isn't looking to be a note in history for a second time, though, as the franchise will be seeking its first Kelly Cup in its second appearance in the final. Like the NHL's President's Trophy, the top ECHL regular-season team hasn't always fared as well in the playoffs, and Kansas City will look to join the 1997 South Carolina Stingrays, the 2006 Alaska Aces, the 2008 Cincinnati Cyclones, the 2011 Alaska Aces, and the 2014 Alaska Aces as the sixth team to win both the Brabham Cup and the Kelly Cup in the same season.

Despite these two opponents meeting for the Kelly Cup just two seasons ago, the script could be written in an entirely different language if things continue to trend as they have been. Florida has been lightning lamps in the Eastern Conference bracket early and often as they have found another gear for the postseason once again. Kansas City has had a few bumps along the way, but they have a deep roster with excellent scoring and goaltending so this Kelly Cup Final looks like it's going to be a good one featuring two solid squads!

The series will begin in Kansas City on June 5 where Florida comes in looking sharp. They feature goaltender Cam Johnson, the Nick Vitucci Award as ECHL Goaltender of the Year in both 2025 and 2026, who is the ECHL all-time leader in postseason wins and shutouts. His 1.35 GAA and .945 save percentage are a big reason why Florida is back in the final. Anthony Romano has 11 goals to lead the playoffs, Carson Gicewicz has eight goals including two shorthanded markers, and 15 Everblades have dented twine when it comes to team scoring depth.

Florida enters the final with a 12-2 record in the playoffs, scoring 50 goals while surrendering just 20. They rank ninth in power-play efficiency at 13.5% on 7-of-52 scoring, but they are tops in the playoffs while shorthanded as they've killed 95.1% of penalties on 39-of-41 opportunities. Perhaps most impressively, they are 6-0 at home in these playoffs, and have scored first in every playoff game this far, outscoring their opponents 15-4 in the opening frame!

The Mavericks boast six players in double-digit scoring with Bobo Carpenter having nine goals and Jackson Jutting having seven markers. Every player that has dressed for a playoff game has recorded a point, so the Mavericks' depth is solid. Goaltending duties have been split between Dylan Wells and Jack Lafontaine with both going 6-1, but Wells has superior numbers with a 1.94 GAA and a .928 save percentage. We'll see who starts in Game One on home ice, but the Mavericks won't worry about either goalie in this series.

Kansas City was a league-best 28-4-4 away from home in the regular season, and they'll look to continue their strong play which has pushed them to a 12-2 record through the playoffs with a 6-1 record both at home and on the road. They've scored 55 goals while allowing 31, but are 8-0 when scoring first in the playoffs. They boast the fourth-best power-play efficiency in the playoffs at 24.1% on 13-of-54 opportunities, but are ninth-best in the playoffs at 83.0% on 39-of-47 penalty kills. Kansas City likes playing in the second period, though, crushing their opponents 25-7 in scoring in the middle frame!

It took Florida five games to defeat Kansas City in 2024, and I suspect that the Mavericks don't want to see anything close to that happening again. The teams split the two games in Kansas City before heading to Estero, Florida where the Everblades won three-straight contests to capture their fourth Kelly Cup. Florida outscored Kansas City 23-13 in those five games, so this year's Kelly Cup Final might simply come down to an old playoff adage: "defence wins championships".

The Kelly Cup Final begins on Friday at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri. The rest of the series schedule can be found here, but this should be a heckuva series between two absolutely dominant playoff teams! The toughest part? Only one can win!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Final Two

With the Stanley Cup Finalists set for this year, we're down to two remaining entrants in Survivor: NHL Playoffs. That means we know who will win the two jerseys we have up for grabs, but we still need to find out who will get the option to choose one of the two jerseys. Michaela and Matt will see their two teams play for hockey supremacy in this final set of games, and we'll know who is the ultimate Survivor this season! But there's something else we need to discuss when it comes to this Stanley Cup Final too.

I have seen a handful of reporters who have suggested that a specific goaltender on the Vegas Golden Knights has earned the right to be in the conversation for the Conn Smythe Trophy. While I don't deny the importance of goaltending when it comes to winning, I want to be very clear that any reporter or writer associated with the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA) that votes for this goalie for the Playoff MVP award should lose their membership in the PHWA.

The last netminder that won was Andrei Vasilevskiy in 2021 with Jonathan Quick being the other most recent winner when he earned the votes in 2012. I'm not against a goaltender winning the award as they do play a big role in the success of any team, but there has to be some morality among the PHWA members when it comes to what was said and presented as evidence against this goaltender during the Hockey Canada trial. Let me be clear: this is not a redemption story.

I am fully aware that many people will disagree with my stance on this, but the Vegas goaltender does not get an opportunity to erase the role he played in the crimes that were committed. There has been zero attempt to own his part in the crimes with which he was charged, there has been zero effort to put in the work to understand the trauma suffered by the victim, and there has been zero work done to show the world he's a better person than who he was in 2018.

"But he was acquitted, Teebz!" is what I hear most of you screaming at your screens, and you're not wrong. The problem is that an acquittal does not prove innocence. All it proves is that the prosecution failed to get a guilty verdict in a trial. And based on all the things that were said and presented in the trial based on Rick Westhead's reporting in We Breed Lions, the Vegas goaltender was handly an innoncent bystander during the night in question in 2018.

In short, don't even bring the netminder up with any sort of redemption. Playing hockey well enough to win does not erase the morally-broken person. Do the right thing, pro hockey writers.

While we're on this topic, the other person who qualifies for a kick upside the head before being mentioned as a Conn Smythe candidate is Brett Howden. I get he's having an excellent playoff performance in this postseason, but I'd be worried about him remembering it if his memory is as bad as he portrayed it to be during the trial. During this testimony, the man sounded like recalling anything from around that 2018 period of time was a chore his brain could not complete.

His testimony included crying, a lot of stammering, and a lot of "I don't remember" due to the concussions and injuries he's received from his hockey career. The Crown presented "18 instances of inconsistency between Howden’s testimony and his previous statements to investigators" which is an incredible amount of memory loss for a person as young as Howden if that memory loss came from the injuries he cited, yet he's still playing hockey with zero health concerns from doctors or medical experts. Make it make sense.

There have been many on social media who have stated that the NHL has allowed alleged criminals play in the league for years before with no one making a big deal about it, and I'm not sure why a history of being morally corrupt is justification to continue being morally corrupt. If we can't change how we think and act to be better, we're doomed as a society. And if we can't demand accountability from all idols and heroes while making their lives uncomfortable until they become accountable for their actions, we've failed as a society.

Neither of their players have ever denied being in the room. Neither of these players have ever denied being, at least, a witness to some of the acts that were committed that night in 2018. Neither of these players have ever apologized to the witness nor taken responsibility for what they did or should have done in that situation. And neither of these players have sought out education or experiences to better understand why they were in the wrong on that fateful night in 2018.

Neither gets credit for being better people because they haven't done the work to prove that an effort was made to be better. In knowing this, drop the redemption arc stories and vote wisely. The PHWA should be able to show some moral integrity once in a while, right?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

He Was Always There

I want to pass along a big congratulations to Ville Heinola on being part of the Finnish team that captured the gold medal at the 2026 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship today. He looked confident throughout the tournament playing alongside a number of his friends and countrymen, and seeing him as happy as he is in this image is encouraging given all the struggles he's been through in his time with the Winnipeg Jets. Whether it was injuries, being relegated to the pressbox, being exiled to the AHL, or just simply being unappreciated and undervalued by conservative coaches and management, Heinola deserves to have this golden moment.

Heinola made the Jets' lineup as an 18 year-old defender in his rookie campaign, but the Jets elected not to burn the first year of his entry-level contract. After scoring one goal and five points in eight games, he was sent back to his Finnish club while the Jets preached patience with Heinola. If he was going to reach his potential, the Jets had to make sure he was developing properly in their system.

Insert your Winnipeg Jets "draft and develop" jokes here.

Over the next three seasons, Heinola skated in just 27 games for the Jets, battling for a roster spot with the likes of Logan Stanley, Dylan Samberg, Johnny Kovacevic, Kyle Capobianco, and Declan Chisholm, but never quite getting the ice-time or the pairing that would allow him to do what he does best: skate with the puck, jump into the offensive zone, and play good positional defence. He was never going to be the bruiser in front of the net, but, like Montreal's Lane Hutson, he had incredible skating and vision from the blue line.

In what looked like a change in the philosophy for the Jets, Ville Heinola was poised to make the Winnipeg Jets' roster out of training camp ahead of the 2023-24 season. The only problem was that Heinola fractured his ankle in the final preseason game, setting him back in his NHL dreams. He would skate with the Manitoba Moose when he was able to get back on skates, but that injury plunged him back into the "battling for a roster spot" ranks for the 2024-25 season.

Early surgery in training camp in 2024 put Heinola back on the shelf after it was discovered that his surgically-repaired ankle was infected, but head coach Scott Arniel seemed to indicate that Heinola was going to get his shot with a comment about the defender on November 19, 2024 where he said, "It's been a tough two years for him. I'm probably his biggest fan here. I wanna see him."

Were we about to see the Finn playing regular minutes?

Heinola's biggest fan dressed him just 23 times in two seasons since uttering those comments to the media, so it's hard to believe that Arniel was doing anything but providing lip service. When he was in the lineup, he most often played on the third pairing with players that rarely complemented his style of play, and it constantly felt like the Jets were trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

I can give you seven million reasons why Ville Heinola should be in Winnipeg, and it starts and ends with Neal Pionk. If the Jets were truly going to make a run at key free agents this summer to improve their team overall, moving Pionk's annual $7 million salary and replacing him with Ville Heinola would be a wise move. They play identical games with the puck on their sticks, but Pionk's physical play is replaced by Heinola's better defensive play when looking at the overall package. This shouldn't be a hard sell for management, but it seems like GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is enamored with Pionk.

This isn't about the Jets and their awful asset management, though. Ville Heinola's smile in the lede image should be enough to tell you that a weight was lifted off his shoulders with this gold medal today. He already admitted to Winnipeg reporters that "[i]t's been, mentally, probably the hardest year. It's hard, and I struggle a lot, especially mentally" and that he "hired a mental (health) coach. That was a huge, huge help at the time, just to be able to talk somebody."

Why that person wasn't someone from inside the organization leaves me with more questions about what kind of front office the Jets have, but seeing him fly around the ice for Finland over the last couple of weeks should be enough proof that Ville Heinola won't be back in Winnipeg next season unless visiting with an opposing team. He proved he can be an effective player on a big stage while being effective at both ends of the ice, and that display of skill by the 25 year-old should have GMs thinking low-risk, high-reward contract.

The Jets will enter next season with 30 year-old Neal Pionk under contract for five more years at $35 million despite his obvious defensive lapses. The Jets invested a lot of money in a player who has had one season above 40 points and who scored a career-low 12 points in 51 games last season, but refused to play Ville Heinola in the same role despite him having the same skill set and talents.

For a team that needed better defensive play with a push for offence from their blue line, Ville Heinola was always there. Today's World Hockey Championship gold medal should be all the proof he needs that his mental health will be better with another franchise.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The New State Of Hockey?

When one thinks of Florida, there are some images that come to mind: sunshine, beaches, and Disney World. Of course, those aren't the only things that Florida is known for, and it seems they're making "winning professional hockey chmapionships" into a Florida thing. We know that the Florida Panthers won back-to-back Stanley Cups before missing the playoffs this season, but there's another team that has made winning into an annual event in the state. If you're unaware of the Florida Everblades and their winning ways, now would be a good time to get to know the ECHL team who will one again be the Eastern Conference representative in the 2026 Kelly Cup championship series!

The Florida Everblades have won four Kelly Cups in franchise history, but three of those four championships have been won since 2022. This year will mark the fourth time in the last five years that the Everblades will play for the Kelly Cup, and the team is 4-2 all-time in Kelly Cup championship series with a 19-11 all-time record in those games. Florida lost back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005 to the Idaho Steelheads and Trenton Titans, respectfully, but won their next four championship series appearances by a 16-3 record.

This year's appearance saw them sweep the Savannah Ghost Pirates in the opening round of the playoffs, defeat the South Carolina Stingrays by a 4-1 series count in Round Two, and they imposed their will on the Wheeling Nailers by winning that series by 4-1 count as well. With just two losses in 14 games, they now await the winner of the ECHL Western Conference Final between the Fort Wayne Komets and the Kansas City Mavericks. Kansas City leads 3-1 in that series with Game Five scheduled for tomorrow in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

If Kansas City were to advance, it would set up the second meeting between these two teams in the Kelly Cup Championship. In 2024, Florida downed Kansas City by a 4-1 series count that saw Florida win three of the four games by three-or-more goals. Fort Wayne and Florida have never met for a Kelly Cup Championship in either side's histories, so we could be in for a new chapter of ECHL history if the Komets can rally against the Mavericks. We'll know more tomorrow.

In 2022, the Everblades qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs as the third-best team in the ECHL by points percentage at .653 thanks to the imbalanced schedule that was used this season. Florida then went 16-4 against Greenville, Jacksonville, Newfoundland, and Toledo that saw the Everblades go 6-1 in overtime games over those four series! That's a simply incredible overtime record by any team in any league!

2023 saw the Florida Everblades struggle through the regular season to a fourth-place finish in the ECHL's South Division, and the eleventh-best playoff team as they entered the Kelly Cup Playoffs. However, once the Kelly Cup Playoffs started, the Everblades switched into invincibility mode, going 16-6 while never holding home-ice advantage in any series. Florida went 5-2 in overtime games in this season, but they swept the ECHL's top regular season team in the Brabham Cup-winning Idaho Steelheads in the championship final! For notation purposes, Idaho finished 34 points better than Florida!

The 2024 ECHL season saw Florida finish in third-place in the South Division, four points back of Greenville and two points behind Jacksonville, as the ninth-best team that qualified for the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Florida and Jacksonville would battle through a seven-game series that saw the Everblades rally from a 3-1 deficit to win the series before they eliminated Orlando in five games and Adirondack in six games. That set up a championship series against the Kansas City Mavericks who were the Brabham Cup winners. Five games later, Florida celebrated a Kelly Cup win in beating the ECHL's best regular-season team despite finishing 25 points back of the Mavericks!

After a bit of a surprise upset last season in the Eastern Conference Final by the Trois-Rivières Lions, the Everblades are back after downing Wheeling tonight, and they look every bit as hungry as they did in winning three-straight championships. Clearly, the Everblades have created a bit of a dynasty in a league where player movement is a regular occurrence which says a lot about the team's management and culture when it comes to building a roster. In knowing that, going to the Kelly Cup Finals in four of five years is an impressive feat!

They still need to win one more series to cement their dynasty status, but the Everblades are giving fans every reason to believe that Florida is the new state of hockey. They sit just four wins from setting new ECHL records with a record fifth Kelly Cup, but they're already the most successful pro hockey team in the panhandle state!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!